THE SHIFT (2023)

THE SHIFT (2023)

Tagline: In The Face Of Darkness, Find The Light

(Sci-Fi, Drama, Faith) [PG-13]

You can’t just shoot the devil. 

In this one, Kevin and Molly are in a marriage marred by tragedy when Kevin is hit by a car on his way home from work. He meets a man called “The Benefactor” who can shift people from one reality to another number of countless realities. He is offered everything he wants if he just does whatever the benefactor wants. He knows all the other Kevin’s went along with the program. What is so special about this one? 

First off, I have pretty much wanted to see this ever since I found out it was getting crowd-funded on Instagram. It looks like the budget ended up being $7 million (it looks primed to do well at the box office overall), but I think they did a pretty good job with the production. It does seem like an indie film, but there are some clever moments in here especially one pretty cool shot of Gabriel. I also liked the post-apocalyptic vibe most of the film was set in. There is also some really cool costume work and I loved the way these futuristic henchmen looked.

On a surface level, this is a sci-fi retelling of the book of Job, but with some definite twists. Scripture is used throughout the film in scene breaks, but I didn’t find the film overly preachy. There is something to be said about perseverance in the face of a cruel and unfair world, but some of the subtler messages resonated as well. 

Acting wise we got some incredible performances. I have seen Neal McDonough (MINORITY REPORT) play a lot of bad guys but this is by far his most sinister film playing the Benefactor. Kristoffer Polaha (JURASSIC WORLD DOMINION) is very good as Kevin. Elizabeth Tabish (ALITA: BATTLE ANGEL) is also solid but gets way too little screen time. I liked Sean Astin (THE GOONIES) in this as Gabriel, but it’s not his best performance ever. John Billingsley (2012) was fantastic as Russo. He was probably my favorite character in the entire movie. 

So as much as I want to get behind this thing, it is not without its issues. It’s a pretty solid effort from a Christian studio and it has some truly gripping moments. Where I think this thing kind of got convoluted was in overcomplicating the “shift”. I think whenever you start getting into alternate realities you are already handing yourself an extra unnecessary challenge. It’s kind of assuming “this reality” isn’t big enough for all the stories you want to tell. So if this had been just 1 alternate reality or linear time travel, I think it would have been more accessible to a wide audience. Instead, it comes across as almost too disjointed to really feel like one coherent story. I don’t want to get too much into the details but I think this part of the story was enough for me to knock a few points off the score. I also thought the ending was a bit lackluster even though it went the way I hoped it would, the delivery was lacking.

We got an incredible score and strong cinematography and overall I love that this story was a bit out of the box. It looks like a lot of the new Christian films coming out are getting back to the basics, so this might stand out for quite some time. 

Overall I have to give this a 4 out of 7. I resonated with a lot of the ideas that are in here, but I think for most people this is probably going to land at a 3 (Just Okay).

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